JOHN ARIAIL a Research Diary, Book 3
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JOHN ARIAIL A Research Diary, Book 3. ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY NAME ARIAIL Although the Ariail Family believes, and rightly so, that our ancestors came from France, we may not have realized as yet the true origin of our ancient family. During the course of my investigations of our family, I had the privilege of talking with a man who has studied the origination of family names. Upon hearing me pronounce the name Ariail, he immediately stated that the name was Hebrew. This astounded me. I even insisted that the name was of French origin, but he persisted in informing me that the name was originally Hebrew in nature. During our recent visit to France, we noted that approximately 85-90% of the time, the name Ariail was spelled Ariel in the French Documents; however, it could be spelled as many as three different ways in the same document. It was almost like the family member would spell it correctly for the writer of the document and when he repeated the name, it would have a different spelling. With all this data we have, we cannot distinguish between the spellings to prove that there are different families that spelled the name different ways. Since the name Ariail is so very unique, it is presently felt that we are looking a family name whose spelling has mutated over the centuries because of various reasons, but whose European spelling is almost always Ariel. King James scribes also used the translation Ariel in their writings. With the above knowledge I had accumulated from the trip to France and talking to the supposedly expert on origin of names, I decided to look at one of the oldest documents that is known to mankind -- "The Holy Bible" -- to see if I could come up with a Hebrew equivalent of the family name Ariail. I felt that if I could find some connection between the Bible and our family, and believing that every word in the Bible is inspired by God and absolutely true, that such a find would be the most important discovery that anyone could ever make in tracing the roots of our family. This is what I found: About the 5th century before Christ, the children of Israel were taken captive and taken to Persia. Eventually, Cyrus allowed some Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. After Cyrus there was a king by the name of Artaxerx'es who allowed Ezra, the Priest (prophet), and his companions to return from Babylon to Jerusalem. Its all documented in the book of Ezra, so there is no use of me repeating it all here, but lets look at two verses and we will find that the name Ariail is, without doubt, Hebrew and that our ancestors were captives in Babylon and walked with the Prophet Ezra during the ancient Prophetic period of history. Quote: Ezra 8:15-16. 8:15 – “And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Aha'va, and there abode we in tents three days; and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.” 8:16 – “Then sent I for Elie'zer, for Ariel, for Shemai'ah, and for Elna'than, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechari'ah, and for Meshul'lam, chief men; also, for Joi'arib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding.” The Holy Bible tells us that not only did our ancestors walk with Ezra, but that Ariel was one of the chief men of their time. Regardless of what you think about the verbiage in this document, we have a heritage to be extremely proud of and we have a tremendous responsibility to walk uprightly before God and humanity as did our ancestors. Our Guidon was a man by the name of Ariel who walked with God and Ezra. He endured the hardships of captivity in Babylon and rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. Let us all endeavor to follow his example, no matter what the difficulties, so that we may become the 'guidon' for succeeding generations that will follow in our footsteps. ROBERT ARIAIL, Cartoonist for The State. I have often heard there is a little Clown in all of us, and if this is so, Bob Ariail has exercised his talents to the fullest. Not only is he a gifted and very talented man, he has utilized these traits to their utmost extent. Already recognized in almost every category and the recipient of almost every award, he has again taken another trophy for his collection. See Family History Files for complete documentation on his awards. Robert was born May 30, 1955, the son of Robert Lee Ariail, Jr. His grandfather was Robert Lee Ariail, Sr., great grandfather, Albert Harrison Ariail, great great grandfather was Luke Ives Ariail, great great great grandfather was John Harvey Ariail of Connecticut and 4th great grandfather was believed to be Jean Baptiste Ariail of Nantes France, and 5th great grandfather, Charles Ariail of Nantes France. When you see headlines State Editorial Cartoonist Ariail Wins Top Award and Robert Ariail Takes Prestigious Honor, you know he has arrived. In March 1993, Pat Butler, Staff Writer for The State published the following article about Bob Ariail. - State Editorial Cartoonist Ariail Wins Top Award Robert Ariail takes prestigious honor. Robert Ariail, editorial cartoonist for The State, has won the 1992 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Cartoons, joining distinguished company that includes Jeff MacNelly of the Chicago Tribune, Don Wright of the Palm Beach Post and Doug Marlette of New York Newsday. Ariail, who also has won the National Headliner Award, said he was stunned when he found out he won the national award, especially considering that he is a non-syndicated cartoonist from a relatively small newspaper. "It meant a lot to win this award coming out of Columbia, South Carolina," Ariail said. "I'm unknown. They don't even know where we are." The judges in the 61-year-old contest cited Ariail's humor; his clean, concise style; and his "wonderful concepts and execution." "It's nice to know there are some really good cartoonists working at smaller dailies who can compete with the established movers and shakers in the cartoon world," the judges wrote. "Robert Ariail will be heard from, and for quite some time." Ariail, a Columbia native, has drawn cartoons for The State since 1984 and worked part time at the Columbia Record for three years before that. His cartoons have appeared in two collections, the sold-out "Ariail View" and the more recent "Ariail Attack!" which has sold more than 3,000 copies. Ariail submitted five cartoons to the contest. Included among them were his drawings substituting George Bush's head for the mysterious monuments on Easter Island. An archaeologist looking at the Bush heads asks: "But what does it mean? What does it stand for?" "Nobody knows," answers the other. "The enigma of both things was fitting," Ariail said. "Bush never knew what he stood for and neither did anybody else." Another cartoon addressed the topic of gays in the military. A gay soldier sleeps soundly in his bunk while other soldiers around him stare fearfully from their beds. "It was really a piece about the unwarranted fear of homosexuals in close quarters," Ariail said. "But people read it as anti-gay." Ariail said he hopes his provocative cartoons reflect, "What people are thinking out there, but not saying." He constantly receives complaints from readers who don't see the humor in his topics or object when "their ox is being gored." But criticism comes with the job, he said. "That's the whole point of editorial cartoons," he said, "to push the envelope, to get out the issues through some sort of distortion." Ariail, who spent Monday drawing a cartoon of Bobby Cremins leaving his Gamecock bride at the altar, hopes to become nationally syndicated soon. Eventually, he would like to start drawing a daily cartoon series, as editorial cartoonists such as MacNelly ("Shoe") and Marlette ("Kudzu") have done before him. WILLIAM OSCAR ARIAIL It is not often that one comes into personal correspondence that dates back fifty years or more, but that is just what we have done in the case of William Oscar Ariail. When he and his wife died, they were buried in the Baxter Memorial Gardens in Newberry, S.C. with no stone to mark the gravesites. We are now in the process of attempting to locate their graves and mark them if at all possible. Not too long ago, one of his descendants contacted me and stated that she had some letters from William and was so graceful as to let me record them in our historical documents so that all will be able to know a little more about one of our early family members. Here is some of those letters: From: W.O. Ariail, Newberry, S.C. Box 104. To: Mr. J.D. Rochester, Greenwood, S.C. R.F.D. #4 IMPORTANT, Postmarked Newberry, S.C. Sep 24, 8:30 p.m., 1942 Newberry, S.C. Box 104, Sept 25th Mr. J.D. Rochester, Dear Nephew, I drop you a few lines to let you hear from me. I came back home last Saturday from Inman. I am not much better than I was when I left your house. I was right poorly last week, but some better this week. I have taken about all my medicine but it doesn’t seem to do me much good if any it may yet.